A light-sensitive microcapsule which contains silver halide, a polymerizable compound and a color image forming substance is disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publications No. 61(1986)-275742, No. 61(1986)-278849, 62(1987)-947 (the contents of these three publications are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,011 and European Patent Provisional Publication No. 0203613A2), No. 62(1987)-169147, No. 62(1987)-209450 (the contents of these two publications are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/401,604 allowed and European Patent Provisional Publication No. 0224214A2), No. 62(1987)-209438 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,265 and European Patent Provisional Publication No. 0237024A2) and No. 62(1987)-209439 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,062 and European Patent Provisional Publication No. 0237025A2). The light-sensitive microcapsule is employed in a light-sensitive material comprising a support and a light-sensitive layer in which the microcapsules are dispersed. The light-sensitive material is used in an image-forming method comprises the steps of imagewise exposing to light the light-sensitive material to form a latent image of silver halide, developing the light-sensitive material to imagewise polymerize the polymerizable compound, and pressing the light-sensitive material on an image-receiving material to imagewise transfer the color image forming substance to the image-receiving material. Thus a color image is formed on the image-receiving material.
A light-sensitive microcapsule which contains a photopolymerization initiator, a polymerizable compound and a color image forming substance is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publications No. 64(1989)-7377 and No. 64(1989)-7378, Japanese Patent Provisional Publications No. 64(1989)-6395 and No. 62(1987)-39845, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,399,209, 4,440,846, 4,536,463, and 4,551,407.
The light-sensitive microcapsule is also employed in a light-sensitive material comprising a support and a light-sensitive layer in which the microcapsules are dispersed. The light-sensitive material is used in an image-forming method comprises the steps of imagewise exposing to light the light-sensitive material to imagewise polymerize the polymerizable compound, and pressing the light-sensitive material on an image-receiving material to imagewise transfer the color image forming substance to the image-receiving material. Thus a color image is formed on the image-receiving material.
Examples of the color image forming substance contained in the microcapsule include a colored substance (e.g., pigment) and a non colored or almost non-colored substance (e.g., leuco dye) which forms a color in the presence of a developer. In the above-mentioned image forming methods, a leuco dye has been mainly used as the color image forming substance. However, a dyestuff formed by the reaction between the leuco dye and the developer has a problem in the stability. Therefore, the color image of the leuco dye formed on the image-receiving material tends to fade under the influence of environmental conditions such as light, temperature and humidity.